


thank u, next

by ThisKwamiNeeds_aNap



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: BFFs, Canon Compliant, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, I love them so much, Idiots in Love, Just so fluffy, Post-Canon, alternate universe where everyone gets therapy, and i will gladly give her all of those, and some space, and some supportive friends, and wrote mailee from the sidelines, breakup but with absolutely zero hard feelings, but cannot write them yet, but plot twist the fake dating stays fake and theyre best friends, i want them to be happy, let mai be happy 2020, let them be happy you cowards, mai and zuko just being adorable and soft, mai being emo, mailee is still too powerful for me, please read the authors note it has important details, she just needs some therapy, so I compromised
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:41:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25891516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThisKwamiNeeds_aNap/pseuds/ThisKwamiNeeds_aNap
Summary: Mai finally gets her turn to break up with Zuko, which would be a lot more emotional if they were actually dating.
Relationships: Mai & Zuko (Avatar), Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 69





	thank u, next

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much to Taliax for beta reading this for me!!
> 
> IMPORTANT NOTES:
> 
> This fic takes place about three years after the show ends.
> 
> Zuko is still firelord. He and Mai broke up a while ago but are still best friends. Mai lives with him in the palace, so they're fake dating because everyone assumes they're together anyways, and it's just easier than constantly explaining that they're not.
> 
> Ty Lee is still a Kyoshi Warrior and she is living her best life.
> 
> Also everyone has had a lot of time to cool down from the war and has gotten a ton of therapy, so they're all a lot healthier emotionally-speaking.

Mai fought to keep her usual posture as she walked down the hallway, trying very hard to not think about Ty Lee’s laugh, or her smile. Definitely not thinking about the conversation that she’d just had.

Mai forced herself to stand up straight, and keep her face neutral, and walk at a normal, regal pace, and not bolt down the hallway while screeching. She was fine. She could do this. This was normal. She was totally calm and in control, and not about to start crying tears of joy.

Mai had blacked out for most of the conversation. She had scripted out her lines, and she was mostly sure that she had followed the plan, but with Ty Lee standing close enough to touch and Ty Lee nodding along happily and Ty Lee looking at her like THAT and Ty Lee tackling her into a hug, her memory had short-circuited. She knew that her feelings were reciprocated, and she had the date and time of their first official date burned into her thoughts, but she had no idea what she’d actually said. Hopefully it wasn’t totally embarrassing. 

It was probably totally embarrassing.

After staring at the wall for way longer than necessary, Mai carefully nudged open the door to the room that she shared with Zuko. He had a habit of laying stacks of important papers across the floor, where he was supposedly more comfortable, and they would go flying if she didn’t pay attention. She slowly walked in, blinking for a long moment before her eyes adjusted to the darkness.

“We need to talk,” she said. She somehow managed to make her voice sound steady.

Zuko— who was flat on the ground, squinting at some important document—didn’t respond. Mai hadn’t really expected him to. When he worked on official firelord things, which was often, he tended to tune the world out.

“Zuko, it’s important.” She crouched down next to him, trying to get his attention without startling him. Unfortunately, he seemed too busy straining his one good eye to process anything else. “Do you need me to read that for you?”

Zuko looked up and jumped. “I didn’t see you there,” he said, laughing softly. “You need to stop sneaking up on me.”

“I’ve been trying to get your attention since I walked in.” Mai said, rolling her eyes, but there was no malice in it. “It’s a good thing that the Warriors of Kyoshi are such good guards, because it takes negative effort to slip past you.”

Zuko tried to roll his eyes back at her, but didn’t stop smiling. 

“Oh, um, speaking of my guards…” He let the unspoken question hang in the air, and suddenly Mai felt lightheaded again. Was her heartbeat supposed to be that loud?

“Yeah,” Mai said, trying very hard to not sound breathless. If she did, she knew Zuko would never let her hear the end of it. She had already lost her dignity once today, she could at least do SOME damage control.

“Did you—”

“Shhh” Mai interrupted, because she was going to completely lose her cool if he actually said it out loud. She fought to keep her face blank, but she could tell from Zuko’s expression that she failed.

“She said yes?” Zuko was smiling way too widely. It was contagious, which wasn’t helping Mai’s blank face at all.

“Shut up,” Mai said, without nearly as much force behind it as she’d tried for.

“She did!” Zuko tossed the parchment away, completely forgotten. “That’s amazing.”

“Wait, no, I’m—” The world was spinning and her heart was pounding and it was Too Much and—

Zuko’s smile immediately dropped.

“Are you okay?” he asked softly, moving to hug her, but stopping when she tensed.

“I’m fine, it’s good, it’s just... it’s a lot.” She managed to say.

Zuko was already shifting to tug a blanket off of the bed. Mai gratefully took it and wrapped it around her shoulders, trying to supress the waves of overwhelming—panic? Excitement? Nerves?—and get her emotions to solidify into words.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Zuko asked after the silence became unbearable. Mai nodded, but didn’t answer for another minute.

“I let myself be vulnerable and I’ve decided that emotions are too much for me. I’m just not going to feel them anymore. It’s not worth it.” She wasn’t quite sure if she had meant the words as a joke or not, but her voice came out way more hollow than she’d intended. She sighed, pulling the blanket tighter around her shoulders as the shakiness refused to go away,

Zuko frowned, and Mai could see him frantically try to figure out what had happened. He was still keeping enough distance so Mai would be comfortable, at least. “Did she... did she not say yes?” 

“No.”

“No she did? Or no she didn’t?”

Mai’s brain was hurting and her nerves were way too fried. “Ty Lee said that she’s in love with me too and we’re going on a date tomorrow.”

“That’s great?” Zuko said, still sounding confused. 

That was fair. Mai was even more confused.

“It is.” She said. “It’s just, kind of a lot to process. How do you handle having emotions all the time? This is... not comfortable.”

Zuko tried very hard not to laugh, but his eyes gave him away.

“Shut up.” Mai said.

“I didn’t say anything!”

“You were thinking way too loudly. It’s distracting.” Suddenly, Mai stood up, throwing the blanket across the room in the process. “You made me forget why I came here.”

“What?”

Mai shushed him again, and cleared her throat as dramatically as possible.

“Zuko, I don’t think this relationship is working out.”

Zuko snorted, and Mai glared at him.

“I think that it’s best for both of us if we—”

Zuko started laughing, and Mai gently kicked him.

“You got to break up with me the last three times, it’s my turn. Let me have my moment.”

“Ok, ok.” Zuko took some deep breaths and schooled his face back into a neutral expression. “What were you saying?”

“I’m breaking up with you.” 

Zuko nodded.

“At least pretend to be surprised.”

“I’ve been helping you script your love confession to Ty Lee for the past two weeks. This isn’t exactly new.”

Mai glared at him, and he coughed.

“I mean, this is so unexpected. Your words are like… knives… in my heart.”

Mai grinned, satisfied, and sat back down.

“Do you feel better now?” Zuko asked.

“Yes.” Mai said, and weirdly, it was true. The world hadn’t stopped just because she was dating Ty Lee. Zuko was still her best friend. 

And she was still a dramatic emo who was stupidly in love.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!! I have a bunch more Mailee WIPS underway. I'm probably going to write some angstier fics eventually, but i wanted to start by releasing some fluffy adorableness first!
> 
> If you want to fuel me to write more, leave a kudos and a comment! :D  
> Thank you again!


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